Evening the score

Candace Doyle

When comparing Miller Park and Lambeau Field, the score in the game of life is 3-0.

Three ironworkers died during the construction of Miller Park, and an appeals court vacated the $94 million in punitive damages awarded their widows. Now, the state Supreme Court will make the call.

During the renovation of Lambeau, there were zero casualties, a figure Bob Bursack, project executive, says he can live with.

But there could have been. As with any project the size and scope of Lambeau, fatalities were assumed. Three, coincidentally.

It may be morbid, but it's the business of the construction business. Before ground is broken, a body count is projected.

"It's something that's common, especially on large projects, to estimate," said Dan Burazin, safety director for the Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee. "It's something that comes through the insurance company.

"It kind of bugs us, the safety professionals, because we expect nobody to die."

The projections are usually kept quiet — conveyed to the owner but not the workers.

"That's usually something that's not told to anybody," he said. "I don't know of any project that that was publicized.

"I don't even want to think about it. I don't want to know what it is, and I definitely wouldn't tell my people."

Yet, workers have to know about the practice, which got us wondering: How do you face your day with that knowledge? How do you work on a project, especially a coveted one like a Miller Park or Lambeau, with the realization you may not make it out alive?

"The average tradesperson will think this way about it: I'm not going to be one of the statistics," Burazin said. "(But) everybody understands the ramifications."

Brad Stehno, account executive with R&R Insurance Services Inc. in Waukesha, agreed: "I had a fatality with one of my clients. ... I guarantee you he didn't think he was going to die that day.

"Three people will die today in construction. That's a fact. It's a hazardous industry."

But Burazin and Stehno say that, even though death may be a budget item, it doesn't need to be inevitable — at job sites, anyway.

"When you get into your car, do you put your seatbelt on?" Stehno asked. "Driving to and from work is a lot more hazardous than any job in construction for the most part."

Stehno said he frequently refers to a Tool Box Talk titled "I chose to look the other way," which speaks of a worker's guilt for not pointing out unsafe practices that killed a co-worker.

"You shouldn't look the other way," he said. "That happens in construction every day.

"It comes down to everyone's responsible for himself, but you have to work as a team as well. If you do that, chances are everyone is going to get home safe."

Those are words to live by.